Serial Killers

[poliphilo]

Silence of the Lambs was OK. Se7en was passable. But since then the weirdo serial killer has been done to death.

As a genre, the serial killer murder mystery is as artificial as Agatha Christie. Real life serial killers don't take their inspiration from the Book of Leviticus (or whatever.) They don't pit their enormous intellects against the police.

Real life serial killers are demented low-lifes. Psychopaths as brilliant as Hannibal Lecter is supposed to be don't go on killing sprees; they set up their own businesses or go into politics.

Comments

The social function of serial killers

[methodius.livejournal.com]

I think you miss the point of serial killers.

Serial killers perform the smae function in the early postmodern West as witches did in early modern Europe (and in Africa now, where modern and premodern worldviews exist side-by-side, as they did in Europe in the 16th century.

The serial killer is the symbol of societal fears, and the figure of evil people just love to hate.

Re: The social function of serial killers

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Good point.

And in both cases the reality is very far removed from the myth.

Re: The social function of serial killers

[methodius.livejournal.com]

I don't think we've had any serial killer hunts yet, but perhaps the serial killer is late 20th century, and the 21st century image of evil is "terrorist", in the West, of course. Elsewhere, it is "American".

Re: The social function of serial killers

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And the average "terrorist" like the average "witch" or "serial killer" is a dim, screwed up social misfit.

I give you Richard Reid- the shoe bomber.